Indonesia continues repatriation, protection for nationals prior to possible attacks in Syria

The Indonesian government continues the protection and repatriation program for nationals staying in Syria prior to a possible attack by foreign forces against the country, a statement released by the foreign affairs ministry said here on Monday. As of August this year, the government has organized 178 sorties of flight to repatriate more than 5,000 nationals from Syria and helped more than 3,500 others fly back to Indonesia through normal procedure. The efforts to return nationals by air have been conducted since February last year. Besides that, government also facilitated evacuation of nationals through land transport to Lebanese capital Beirut and Turkish capital Ankara. According to the Syrian government's figures, more than 12,500 Indonesians have stayed and worked in the country. More than 3,800 remain in the country at the moment. The Indonesian government provides shelters to their citizens in Syria, which are in the cities of Damascus, Aleppo and Lattakia. Another shelter was also provides in Beirut, Lebanon. "Indonesian embassy actively establishes communications with citizens left remaining in Syria," the statement said. The intense contact was aimed at anticipating the worse should any foreign strike be launched. The United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban ki-moon said that Syrian conflict has claimed more than 100,000 lives since it erupted in March 2011. UN inspectors have concluded its investigation into use of chemical weapon allegation in Syria, brought the results of investigation to The Hague, The Netherlands, for further verification process.